1. Purpose of the Invention
This invention provides in general certain new and useful improvements in liquid activity toys, and, more particularly, liquid activity toys in which the introduction of a relatively small amount of liquid, such as water, into the toy by a child user actuates means to cause one or more activities to occur, including either a shiftable movement or a rotatable movement of an object, or both.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
There have been various water activity toys in the prior art and some of which are useful as a so-called "bathtub" toy. One such prior art bathtub activity toy included a housing in which water was poured into the housing to turn a water wheel. The water was introduced into a funnel and the funnel permitted the water to be dropped into cavities in the water wheel to turn the same.
A commercially usable photographic print washing tray had a pair of compartments separated by an upstanding divider. When held under a faucet dispensing water, one compartment of the tray was filled to a certain level, the tray tipped to one side permitting the water to discharge from that compartment. The divider then diverted water flow into the next compartment and when the next compartment filled, the tray would thereupon shift back to its initial position where water was introduced again into the first of the compartments and this cycle would continue.
In the prior art water activity toy and in the photographic tray, a fair amount of water, or at least water under significant pressure, was required in order to create the desired action. Thus, in the case of the water wheel, water had to be introduced at sufficient pressure and in sufficient volume in order to turn the water wheel. This prior art water activity toy was confined for use in a location where there was a readily available source of water, usually under pressure, e.g. a water tap. In the case of the photographic tray, the water had to be introduced in sufficient amount in order to create the tipping action of the tray.